Bits and Pieces - A Cuddly has a Makeover and Welcome to a New One.

Greetings to one and all - Hope everyone is having/has had a Very Happy Easter. Cy Bear is having a rest this week - and it's not because he's had too much chocolate.   It's a case of being easier for me to explain what has happened in these cases this week, than asking Cy Bear to do it - besides, he must not get the idea that he's the only one involved with this blog!   As the title implies, we have a new Cuddly in our Family - a Blue Fleece Rabbit Toy, similar in shape and size to all the other Fleece Rabbits - but looking like this.

However, our original Blue Fleece Rabbit https://www.etsy.com/listing/183218760/bunny-rabbit-toy-stuffed-animal-art-doll?ref=shop_home_active_23  is made with the same fabric as many of our Blue Baby Rabbits (shown below) so my supply was running low. 

                                              

Thus when I went on line  to my fabric supplier for these fleeces, I found they had a different, darker blue example, and decided to go with it for a different Cuddly result.  After all, the Babies look good in the pastel shades - as proved by the number of times they get selected for Treasuries - and, with a big stretch of imagination - they COULD grow into big Blue Bunnies in later life! 
                                                

Etsy Listing #228531836

This new Rabbit was listed in our Shop on Etsy earlier this week, and here are a couple of other shots of him from different angles to give you an idea of his dimensions.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Now to move to the other Cuddly who received attention this week.  Our Light Brown Faux Fur Teddy Bears have proved popular Forever Friends for folks all over the US and UK.  I was delighted therefore to be contacted about the latest being shown in our Etsy.com Shop  by MsAB - who is a long-time COLDHAMCUDDLIES Friend.   (She is both a customer - she was our very First in 2011, and has adopted two other Coldham Teddies since - one of whom now resides with her Mother.  But she was also one of the first Followers of this blog).  A new family member has recently made their arrival into the World, and MsAB was keen to see if she could adopt the one on the right of this picture.

                                                                                           She said she preferred the look of him from his companion, but alas, I was unable to meet her request, because that particular Cuddly was adopted in December 2014 and is called Arthur and living very happily with his Forever Friend (who bought him as a 50th Birthday Present to herself) in the Nottingham environs of the U.K.   So I  offered  to change Left Hand Bear's facial features, to see if I could make him look more like his fortunate friend.

                                    

The operation took place mid-week, and involved me cutting out the black double knitting yarn used to embroider Right Bear's nose and mouth.  If you look closely, his nose is squarer and his mouth looks a little grim.  Having removed the original sewing, I made his nose look more like Left Bear, and tried to get his mouth to look a bit happier.  (Remember, I find it difficult, if not impossible to absolutely replicate a look even when restoring Bears and other Toys when they become COLDHAMCUDDLIES Patients).  However, this is what Right Bear looks like now - after his makeover.

While I was doing the makeover, MsAB decided to go and have a look-see at my blog - which apparently she'd not visited for some time.  There she found the story of Hairy Bears No. 10 and 11, and read that No.10 (in our posts of 17th and 22nd February 2015) had been made with a slightly larger head than our Teddies are usually given. She wrote back asking if it would be possible for me to make a Custom Bear for her, using the Light Brown Faux Fur Arthur and his Companion are made with, but with a big head.  Apparently there is no hurry for him to reach Massachusetts, because the new arrival and MsAB are not expecting to see each other for some time.  So, a Custom Order is about to be raised for Arthur2, but with a happy face and a bigger head.

Thought this story might make interesting reading for our Followers - because it illustrates that it is possible for any Cuddly in the Shop (www.Etsy.com/Shop/COLDHAMCUDDLIES) to be changed if anyone would like to specify their wishes.

Right - that's it for this week:  am deep in the creation of a new Cat Puppet prototype, to prove that a pattern for a standing Cat Toy can be turned into a Hand Puppet.  So far it is going to plan - the outer part is readyNow I'm seeing if I can construct a lining - because the canvas through which the plush pile is fixed can be a bit "scratchy" and all previous Tulsa based Puppets and their Bodies have been lined.  I'm hoping that this will be accomplished later today, so that pictures showing the new Activity Toy can be emailed to Tulsa (how on earth did we manage before the internet, I wonder?).  If approved by JS, my friendly Tulsa-based Puppeteer, I will go ahead and make his Cat Puppet - in a specially chosen fabric, which I was not prepared to use until we were both sure the idea would work.

Either Cy Bear or I will report on progress next time.  In the interim, hope you all have a good week, as Spring shows the first signs of arriving here in the UK.  Winter seems to have been going on an awful long time this year.